Bethenny Frankel Is Suing TikTok - Find Out Why & See the App's Response

Bethenny filed a suit over ads that allegedly appeared on the app that made it appear like she was selling counterfeit products. Bethenny says that the ads in question used content from a previous video where she talked about a cardigan. Then, that video was altered to create an ad that apparently sold a “cheap knockoff designer cardigan.”

“First and foremost, I want there to be a tangible change, whether it’s an act, a law, a process, a step, that protects content creators,” Bethenny told the Washington Post. “An effort needs to be made by TikTok to protect creators and consumers. There are people who purchased these products after they saw these ads with me in them.”

TikTok responded, saying, “We have strict policies to both protect people’s hard earned intellectual property and keep misleading content off of TikTok. We regularly review and improve our policies and processes in order to combat increasingly sophisticated fraud attempts and further strengthen our systems.”

Scam ads like the one Bethenny is suing over is apparently a huge, $16.4 billion industry right now, with profits being made off of unrelated influencer videos.

“People were saying, ‘I thought you sold out. You’re hawking these bad products,’” Bethenny added. “It’s such a violation of me as a brand, a media figure. You can’t decide to just use me as an advertisement day in and day out.”

“Although the platform is not an e-commerce site, it facilitates and promotes the sale of products,” a summary of Bethenny’s lawsuit reads. “The promotion of products, particularly counterfeit products, garner millions of views and incentivize TikTok to increase their revenue streams by allowing the counterfeit products to be presented to users.”

Bethenny added, “I want to be a voice for change in this space,” she said. “I have a platform, I have influence, and I want to make a difference on a greater scale.”

Find out how much the most popular TikTok users make for sponsored post content posted on their pages.